Seeing as how the Holiday Ale Fest is in full swing, I thought it would warm your winter with a favorite of mine, namely a “Wee Heavy” or Scotch Ale. I brewed this beer last when there was the much anticipated hop shortage. It featured what the Scots call ground hops, or Heather Tips. While Heather has a unique and mild flavor, their bitterness is completely different from Hops. It’s best described as an herbal medicinal flavor with some low level honey like notes to smooth out the finish (think Drambuie and you’ll know what I mean) a bit. While the Scots have a penchant for naming things that counterpoint the reality of the world, they do have some novel ideas about brewing. The Scots invented sparging just before the Germans and also kept making traditional true to style strong beers and ales up through to the present. Probably the two best known commercial examples of the style would be Skull Splitter and Belhaven’s Wee Heavy. Below is a recipe of mine that produces something in between those two beers.

At knockout (0 minutes), turn off the heat, cool the mixture by placing kettle in an ice bath or use a wort chiller. Add the mixture to the fermenter, removing the hops, and bring total volume to 5 gallons using distilled, bottled, or filtered tap water.

Add the bittering hops after 15 minutes boiling and continue to boil for 60 more minutes.

Add Whirlfloc or Irish Moss at last 15 minutes.

Add the aroma hops at 10 minutes remaining to the boil.

Gravity may vary depending on system efficiency, so adjust accordingly.

Package up as usual; bottled versions should use 80 gms. corn sugar (approx. 3/5 cup), or kegged to 10 psig, and allow two weeks to come into condition. Serve at 50~55°F in a Thistle glass, share and enjoy! This beer will continue to evolve and change over the coming months, so make enough to last you through your next brew.